Ferriero the Hero In Boston College's Comeback

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Boston College

BOSTON  Boston College forward Benn Ferriero scored his 16th goal at the 43-second mark of triple overtime on the power play, his biggest of his career, en route to a come from behind victory over New Hampshire 5-4. After trailing 4-1 midway through the second period, the Eagles dominated play through the final 30 minutes of regulation and more than 40 minutes of overtime.

"They were forcing us pretty hard [on the power play]," said Ferriero when describing the winning goal. "We tried throwing as many pucks at the net as we can. [Joe] Whitney passed it across and it bounced off a UNH defenseman and it went in.

"[Kevin] Regan is a very good goalie. He won player of the year and he deserved the honor. We knew we weren't playing bad and you just need to get a couple of bounces. It was just being strong playing in our area and we were rewarded with our hard work."

On the other side of things, the New Hampshire Wildcats saw their comfortable 4-1 lead slip away in the second. The name of the game was penalties. BC's power play was clicking all night. At the end of double overtime, UNH's Danny Dries drew an interference penalty that led to the winning goal.

"We are disappointed with the loss," said Wildcat coach Dick Umile. "You got to give BC credit coming back from 4-1. We hurt ourselves with the penalties."

After taking a timeout midway through the second period, it was all Eagles the rest of the evening. The Eagles took 67 shots on goal throughout the game.

"We just tried to settle things down and tried to bounce back," said BC coach Jerry York. "We got a good group of kids. It was a real interesting year. It's been more of an up and down year over the course of the year for us. We handled those up and downs with a pretty good balance."

For York's squad, it was the third straight overtime win at the TD Banknorth Garden. Two of the previous overtime victories came in the Beanpot, but it was this one that was the most dramatic of them all.

"We have always had skilled players at BC and we always will have," said York. "We just have mentally strong kids; 4-1 is a pretty good knockout blow in a game like that."

Going into the overtime period(s), fatigue was a key factor as both teams reached for everything they had to get that winning goal in what was the second longest game in Hockey East history.

"Obviously, fatigue started to set in. It was a real long game to play," Ferriero said about the weariness of the team. "I don't think anyone can say that they weren't tired at the end.

"We had a lot of guys who worked hard in the weight room and on the ice in practice. We were well conditioned at the end of the game and I think it showed."

The luck of the draw came to the Eagles tonight. In the first overtime the game could have been over had it not been for Kevin Regan's helmet coming off, resulting in a disallowed goal for BC. However, BC was determined to finish the comeback.

"When you talk about puck luck, good teams seem to have it," York said. "We were really fortunate at the Garden. This is the third straight overtime victory at the Garden for us."

Before tonight, BC had scored three goals in three games against the Wildcats. Tonight was a different night.

"We had no success all year against UNH," York mentioned. "Clearly we had some puck luck. But, I think we earned some really good chances, and we got some fortunate bounces."